Help Please

Re: Help Please

Don't mess with the woodwork. If the chasis is good (neck, body, headstock, fretboard), simply restore it with suitable hardware. Some (many) SGs were neck-heavy to begin with, the body is thin, so you don't want to be removing any more wood from the body, or from the nut area, many SGs were already weak at that point.
 
Help Please

...but what year and sub-model is it? We can't give good advice until we know. Electronics, hardware are ****ed - who cares. You can put replacements in without further decreasing the thing's ability to be restored down the line. What you don't want to do is to be one of those idiots who does permanent modification to an instrument that is desirable in original condition. Too many *******s have carved up sweet old guitars over the years. We have all cursed them at one time or another in the course of our instrument (and/or car) buying and selling. SGs that you could carve up to add a Floyd without remorse are all over the place. You want to do that, get a Special Faded for under 500 bux and carve to your heart's content. There are bajillions of them out there, and they'll never be collectible or valuable. You need to know what you have before even thinking about what crazy **** you want to do to it.

Rant over...but point being: at least find out exactly what it was originally, as the most basic first step. It's simple logic to do so. If you are a woodworker, then you must understand the concept of doing things in a logical order.
 
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Re: Help Please

What year, submodel or whatever I have no idea. The only thing I can tell you with any certainty is it was originally a reddish, translucent type finish over a beautiful grain. Probably some sort of hot lacquer given the age. Some of you have said it is a mahogany body, but I'm no expert in exotic African timbers, (show me a stick of Aussie or English hardwood I can tell you without a doubt what it is), so until I can get the lacquer off I'm really unsure what it is. The body is thin, about 30 to 33 mm roughly measured at its thickest point. Apart from that, I can tell you no more. And just for the record, don't ever apologise for having a good old rant. It's good for the soul, and it's encouraging to see someone passionate about something they love and live for. (We Englishmen invented the concept and we've managed to stay in business for well over 2000 years.)
 
Re: Help Please

David121962 said:
What year, submodel or whatever I have no idea. The only thing I can tell you with any certainty is it was originally a reddish, translucent type finish over a beautiful grain. Probably some sort of hot lacquer given the age. Some of you have said it is a mahogany body, but I'm no expert in exotic African timbers, (show me a stick of Aussie or English hardwood I can tell you without a doubt what it is), so until I can get the lacquer off I'm really unsure what it is. The body is thin, about 30 to 33 mm roughly measured at its thickest point. Apart from that, I can tell you no more. And just for the record, don't ever apologise for having a good old rant. It's good for the soul, and it's encouraging to see someone passionate about something they love and live for. (We Englishmen invented the concept and we've managed to stay in business for well over 2000 years.)
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Pics would help the gurus here determine whether or not you'd be committing sacrilege by doing the things you're talking about. Don't strip the lacquer just yet!!! Could be an original finish and if it's a real vintage axe stripping the lacquer is not a good idea! It doesn't kill the value entirely but it does seriously degrade it.
 
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Re: Help Please

I wouldn't do a thing to it yet until we get to the bottom of it; it would be most unwise to do so. '60's SGs are sought after guitars, and too many already have been hacked.

The serial number will be on the back of the head, unless it has somehow been molested/abused. There was some weird serial number repetition at times, but the number will narrow things down at the least. The neck angle and construction will tell us a lot. Flatter neck angle = later. And knowing 5-piece neck/head vs. 3-piece will tell us whether it's '60's or '70's. The way the body contours are carved will tell us something too. Deeper, more attractive carving = earlier. Even just one sharp frontal photo will immediately identify it as '60's or '70's, which is pretty much all you need to know to decide what to do with it ('60's = don't **** with it, '70's = maybe it would be okay to go ahead and **** with it).

The body and neck wood is South American mahogany, not African. (Most African varieties would be "ribbon" mahogany, and would not generally be found in American-made guitars of that time.) The fretboard wood is South American rosewood. Both woods' respective trees have been hacked down en masse, and their lumber is no longer readily available, making the older varieties more desirable.
 
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Re: Help Please

Love watching the peanut gallery gobble this up hook line and sinker...

New guys registers and posts this? In off topic no less...
 
Re: Help Please

First and foremost, welcome. We love to see newbies on here, and no matter what some would say, most of us really do wish to be helpful.

Second, if you have even a smartphone, by all means get some pictures, and upload them to a photo website like Picasa or something. Then, post them here.

Third, I'm moving this to the Guitar Shop, where all the ones who live for this sort of thing like to post.

Fourth: By no means am I an expert, but from what little I've played of SG's, they don't have much meat in the body. A deep rout for a vibrato would put you in deep trouble.

Lastly, there's a great thread that might speak to a man of your level of knowledge. One of our Aussie guys (Crusty Philtrum) did his own LP, and there were no fancy tools involved.

Have a look here... it's 16 pages long, so take a few days and take some notes. You may not want to go full-on in building one, but there's a lot of incredible info.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...uilds-A-Les-Paul-(How-Not-To-Build-A-Guitar-)
 
Re: Help Please

I would only consider restoring that guitar to original spec...no routing, no refinishing. Plus, the SG isn't thick enough for the trem.

Is it currently routed for humbucker pups or p-90s?
 
Re: Help Please

Thanks Ginormous. Most of the comments, yourself included, have been helpful with the one exception of the tosser above you (Edgecrusher). I am assuming that being part of "the Peanut Gallery" is not meant as a compliment, however, as I 'm not conversant with American slang/jargon I can only assume it's not meant to be overly complimentary.

I will definitely have a look at the link you sent me.

As for the old beast I was originally asking about, it's a project that my son and I were going to embark upon when he's finished Uni for the year. (Early November). At the moment, he has the guitar at his place in Sydney so I wont see it in the flesh until he gets here. The request for help is merely to get an idea of what to and not to do. He says there are no numbers that he can see on the head or the neck. If it turns out to be an old relic that deserves nothing less than to be restored to it's former glory, I'll more than likely hand it on to someone locally who can do it more justice. Newcastle is full of old muso's and luthiers that I'm sure would take it on. Having said that, I would love to take on a project that if I did **** it up, it wouldn't have the guitar gods rolling in their graves with the knowledge that some old Pommy Chippie committed the ultimate crime.

I will be calling on the forum again for their worldly advice and invaluable knowledge regardless of the path I take, THIS time in the proper area so as not to offend the more "sensitive" members. (Note that ones tongue is firmly in ones cheek).
 
Re: Help Please

"Peanut Gallery" is a reference to an old US children's TV show ("Howdy Doody"). Basically, they were the kids in the studio audience.

Edgecrusher was poking fun at his fellow forum members; no harm really.
 
Re: Help Please

Benefit of the doubt then Ginormous. No offence taken. I am pretty thick skinned. Matt, my son, has sent me a couple of photos of a stamped number he found low on the neck but nowhere near the head. Hopefully it can shed some light on the history of this guitarIMG_0630[1].jpg
 
Re: Help Please

LOL. This is too funny. That's not even an SG, man. It's some cheap Japanese knockoff or sumthin'.

Mod the hell outta that P.O.S.!
 
Re: Help Please

ItsaBass said:
LOL. This is too funny. That's not even an SG, man. It's some cheap Japanese knockoff or sumthin'.

Mod the hell outta that P.O.S.!
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Well for starters Red its not a pos if its made in japan. Second how can you possible tell by looking at that picture.
 
Re: Help Please

Well thank **** that's settled. I'll hack the bejesus out of it then. Like I said it was given to me 30 odd years ago and in a ****ing mess. I'll let you know the outcome
 
Re: Help Please

David121962 said:
Well thank **** that's settled. I'll hack the bejesus out of it then. Like I said it was given to me 30 odd years ago and in a ****ing mess. I'll let you know the outcome
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let me know if you need any help/advice. I also know some great places you can score mdf templates custom made.
 
Re: Help Please

David121962 said:
Thanks Ginormous. Most of the comments, yourself included, have been helpful with the one exception of the tosser above you (Edgecrusher). I am assuming that being part of "the Peanut Gallery" is not meant as a compliment, however, as I 'm not conversant with American slang/jargon I can only assume it's not meant to be overly complimentary.
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Peanut gallery wasnt directed at you it was directly aimed at the guys around here who are wetting their pants over what they assume and by the pic you posted seems to be wrongly is a valuable vintage guitar that needs to be restored and revered and not modded and cut up.
 
Re: Help Please

kramersteen said:
Red its not a pos if its made in japan.
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Point of order Raph, Not everything to have ever been produced in the fine country of japan is a work of art. In particular some of the low cost guitars that were exported out of there during the 60's and 70's are lacking in redeeming qualities.
 
Re: Help Please

Four holes, arranged in a rectangular spacing, does seem to indicate a bolt-on neck. SG's were fixed into the body.

Let's see some more, and get a bigger perspective.
 
Re: Help Please

Edgecrusher said:
Point of order Raph, Not everything to have ever been produced in the fine country of japan is a work of art. In particular some of the low cost guitars that were exported out of there during the 60's and 70's are lacking in redeeming qualities.
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Oh whateva you peanut gallery.

Yeah true, Sorry red. haha
 
Help Please

kramersteen said:
Well for starters Red its not a pos if its made in japan. Second how can you possible tell by looking at that picture.
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Same cheap looking wood and truss rod adjustment nut found on countless cheapo guitars of the '70's. Not to mention that if it looks like an SG but has a bolt neck, it's likely a low-end copy, most of which were MIJ back then.

I am a lover of (and owner of three currently) good MIJ guitars; I wasn't saying it was cheap because Japanese people made it. I was saying it because a few clues pointed to it being a cheap MIJ guitar.

I'm also not claiming that I am 100 percent correct, just giving my initial "guess reaction" to the photo.
 
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